Abraham is widely regarded as the Patriarch of monotheism and the
common father of the Jews, Christians and Muslims. Through His second
son, Isaac, came all Israelite prophets including such towering
figures as Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus. May peace
and blessings be upon them all. The advent of these great prophets was
in partial fulfillment of God's promises to bless the nations of earth
through the descendents of Abraham (Genesis12:2-3).Such fulfillment is
wholeheartedly accepted by Muslims whose faith considers the belief in
and respect of all prophets an article of faith.
BLESSINGS OF ISHMAEL AND ISAAC
Was the first born son of Abraham (Ishmael) and his descendants
included in God's covenant and promise? A few verses from the Bible
may help shed some light on this question;
1) Genesis 12:2-3 speaks of God's promise to Abraham and his
descendants before any child was born to him.
2) Genesis 17:4 reiterates God's promise after the birth of Ishmael
and before the birth of Isaac.
3) In Genesis, ch. 21. Isaac is specifically blessed but Ishmael was
also specifically blessed and promised by God to become "a great
nation" especially in Genesis 21:13, 18.
4) According to Deuteronomy 21:15-17 the traditional rights and
privileges of the first born son are not to be affected by the social
status of his mother (being a "free" woman such as Sarah, Isaac's
mother, or a "Bondwoman" such as Hagar, Ishmael's mother). This is
only consistent with the moral and humanitarian principles of all
revealed faiths.
5) The full legitimacy of Ishmael as Abraham's son and "seed" and the
full legitimacy of his mother, Hagar, as Abraham's wife are clearly
stated in Genesis 21:13 and 16:3. After Jesus, the last Israelite
messenger and prophet, it was time that God's promise to bless Ishmael
and his descendants be fulfilled. Less than 600years after Jesus, came
the last messenger of God, Muhammad, from the progeny of Abraham
through Ishmael. God's blessing of both of the main branches of
Abraham's family tree was now fullfilled. But are there additional
corroborating evidence that the Bible did in fact foretell the advent
of prophet Muhammad?
MUHAMMAD:
The Prophet Like Unto Moses
Long time after Abraham, God's promise to send the long-awaited
Messenger was repeated this time in Moses' words.
In Deuteronomy 18:18, Moses spoke of the prophet to be sent by God who is:
1) From among the Israelite's "brethren", a reference to their
Ishmaelite cousins as Ishmael was the other son of Abraham who was
explicitly promised to become a "great nation".
2) A prophet like unto Moses. There were hardly any two prophets ,who
were so much alike as Moses and Muhammad. Both were given
comprehensive law code of life, both encountered their enemies and
were victors in miraculous ways, both were accepted as
prophets/statesmen and both migrated following conspiracies to
assassinate them. Analogies between Moses and Jesus overlooks not only
the above similarities but other crucial ones as well (e.g. the
natural birth, family life and death of Moses and Muhammad but not of
Jesus, who was regarded by His followers as the Son of God and not
exclusively a messenger of God, as Moses and Muhammad were and as
Muslim belief Jesus was).
THE AWAITED PROPHET WAS TO COME FROM ARABIA
Deuteronomy 33:1-2 combines references to Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.
It speaks of God (i.e. God's revelation) coming from Sinai, rising
from Seir (probably the village of Sa'ir near Jerusalem) and shining
forth from Paran. According to Genesis 21:21, the wilderness of Paran
was the place where Ishmael settled (i.e. Arabia, specifically Mecca).
Indeed the King James version of the Bible mentions the pilgrims
passing through the valley of Ba'ca (another name of Mecca) in Psalms
84:4-6.
Isaiah 42:1-13 speaks of the beloved of God. His elect and messenger
who will bring down a law to be awaited in the isles and who "shall
not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgement on earth."
Verse 11, connects that awaited one with the descendants of Ke'dar.
Who is Ke'dar? According to Genesis 25:13, Ke'dar was the second son
of Ishmael, the ancestor of prophet Muhammad.
MUHAMMAD'S MIGRATION FROM MECCA TO MEDINA:
PROPHECIED IN THE BIBLE?
Habakkuk 3:3 speaks of God (God's help) coming from Te'man (an Oasis
North of Medina according to J. Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible),
and the holy one (coming) from Paran. That holy one who under
persecution migrated from Paran (Mecca) to be received
enthusiastically in Medina was none but prophet Muhammad.
Indeed the incident of the migration of the prophet and his persecuted
followers is vividly described in Isaiah 21:13-17. That section
foretold as well about the battle of Badr in which the few ill-armed
faithful miraculously defeated the "mighty" men of Ke'dar, who sought
to destroy Islam and intimidate their own folks who turned -to Islam.
THE QUR'AN (KORAN) FORETOLD IN THE BIBLE?
For twenty-three years, God's words (the Qur'an) were truely put into
Muhammad's mouth. He was not the "author" of the Qur'an. The Qur'an
was dictated to him by Angel Gabriel who asked Muhammad to simply
repeat the words of the Qur'an as he heard them. These words were then
committed to memory and to writing by those who hear them during
Muhammad's life time and under his supervision.
Was it a coincidence that the prophet "like unto Moses" from the
"brethren" of the Israelites (i.e. from the lshmaelites) was also
described as one in whose mouth God will put his words and that he
will speak in the name of God, (Deuteronomy 18:18-20). Was it also a
coincidence the "Paraclete" that Jesus foretold to come after Him was
described as one who "shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak (John 16:13)
Was it another coincidence that Isaiah ties between the messenger
connected with Ke'dar and a new song (a scripture in a new language)
to be sang unto the Lord (Isaiah 42:10-11). More explicitly,
prophesies Isaiah "For with stammering lips, and another tongue, will
he speak to this people" (Isaiah 28:11). This latter verse correctly
describes the "stammering lips" of Prophet Muhammad reflecting the
state of tension and concentration he went through at the time of
revelation. Another related point is that the Qur'an was revealed in
piece-meals over a span of twenty three years. It is interesting to
compare this with Isaiah 28:10 whichspeaks of the same thing.
THAT PROPHET- PARACLETE- MUHAMMAD
Up to the time of Jesus (peace be upon him), the Israelites were still
awaiting for that prophet like unto Moses prophecied in Deuteronomy
18:18. When John the Baptist came, they asked him if he was Christ and
he said "no". They asked him if he was Elias and he said "no". Then,
in apparent reference to Deuteronomy 18:18, they asked him "Art thou
that Prophet" and he answered, "no". (John 1: 1 9-2 1).
In the Gospel according to John (Chapters 14, 15, 16) Jesus spoke of
the "Paraclete" or comforter who will come after him, who will be sent
by Father as another Paraclete, who will teach new things which the
contemporaries of Jesus could not bear. While the Paraclete is
described as the spirit of truth, (whose meaning resemble Muhammad's
famous title Al-Amin, the trustworthy), he is identified in one verse
as the Holy Ghost (John 14:26). Such a designation is however
inconsistent with the profile of that Paraclete. In the words of the
Dictionary of the Bible, (Ed. J. Mackenzie) "These items, it must be
admitted do not give an entirely coherent picture."
Indeed history tells us that many early Christians understood the
Paraclete to be a man and not a spirit. This might explain the
followings who responded to some who claimed, without meeting the
criteria stipulated by Jesus, to be the awaited "Paraciete".
It was Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who was the Paraclete,
Comforter, helper, admonisher sent by God after Jesus. He testified of
Jesus, taught new things which could not be borne at Jesus' time, he
spoke what he heard (revelation), he dwells with the believers
(through his well-preserved teachings). Such teachings will remain
forever because he was the last messenger of God, the only Universal
Messenger to unite the whole of humanity under God and on the path of
PRESERVED truth. He told of many things to come which "came to pass"
in the minutest detail meeting, the criterion given by Moses to
distinguish between the true prophet and the false prophets
(Deuteronomy 18:22). He did reprove the world of sin, of righteousness
and of judgement (John 16:8-11)
WAS THE SHIFT OF RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP PROPHECIED?
Following the rejection of the last Israelite prophet, Jesus, it was
about time that God's promise to make Ishmael a great nation be
fulfilled (Genesis 21:13, 18)
In Matthew 21:19-21, Jesus spoke of the fruitless fig tree (A Biblical
symbol of prophetic heritage) to be cleared after being given a last
chance of three years (the duration of Jesus' ministry) to give fruit.
In a later verse in the same chapter, Jesus said: "Therefore, say I
unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given
to a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof" (Matthew 21:43). That
nation of Ishmael's descendants (the rejected stone in Matthew 21:42)
which was victorious against all super-powers of its time as
prophecied by Jesus: "And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be
broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder"
(Matthew 21:44).
OUT OF CONTEXT COINCIDENCE?
Is it possible that the numerous prophecies cited here are all
individually and combined out of context misinterpretations? Is the
opposite true, that such infrequently studied verses fit together
consistently and clearly point to the advent of the man who changed
the course of human history, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Is
it reasonable to conclude that all these prophecies, appearing in
different books of the Bible and spoken by various prophets at
different times were all coincidence? If this is so here is another
strange "coincidence"!
One of the signs of the prophet to come from Paran (Mecca) is that he
will come with "ten thousands of saints" (Deuteronomy 33:2 KJV). That
was the number of faithful who accompanied Prophet Muhammad to Paran
(Mecca) in his victorious, bloodless return to his birthplace to
destroy the remaining symbols of idolatry in the Ka'bah.
Says God as quoted by Moses:
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my
words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
(Deuteronomy 18:19)
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